About
I like science and art. Most of what I do comes down to listening closely.
For work I use ML/AI to understand how other animals communicate, from songbirds to elephants to jumping spiders. A lot of this research is basic science, understanding how the world works and what ecological and evolutionary processes have shaped it. I also collaborate with scientists and policymakers to apply that knowledge to create more effective conservation policies, mitigate the effects of climate change, and help others see and hear the world differently.
I started out as an electrical engineer, first working on robotics and then digital signal processing. Halfway into an EE PhD I realized I wanted something more interdisciplinary, so I left, and eventually found my way into ecology through bioacoustics. I spent a few years developing analysis methods at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National University of Singapore, and Wildlife Conservation Society, and did a master’s in conservation biology. That led to a PhD at Cornell studying cultural evolution of bird song, and then a move to the West Coast for a postdoc at Stanford on underground soundscapes. Along the way I taught English in Colombia, made siren detection algorithms for self-driving cars, and built tools for detecting and monitoring coughs during the pandemic.
I’ve also lived in several countries and appreciate how existing in different cultures and languages challenges my certainties about the world. There are a lot of ways of knowing and being.
Alongside the science, I like making things, especially art installations with my partner Emmett. I also run a community art project, tend a rambling backyard garden, and spend as much time as possible playing with my daughter.
Speaker bio
Sara Keen is a behavioral ecologist and electrical engineer specializing in acoustics, signal processing, machine learning, and the ecology of animal signals and societies. She is a Senior Research Scientist at Earth Species Project, where she uses AI to understand how other species communicate. She received a PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University, was a postdoctoral fellow in Earth and Planetary Sciences at Stanford, and previously worked at the National University of Singapore, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Wildlife Conservation Society. She also creates interactive art installations about sound and other kinds of waves. Her work aims to support conservation and scientific understanding and to encourage joyful exploration of our world.